A/N: Very busy day. I was hoping to get three chapters edited and posted today, but I will be lucky if I get two chapters posted. A Little bit of Captain Jack is good for the soul, so editing these four chapters isn't a hardship at all.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Nine: The Lost Child
Two weeks after the incident with my father, and Rose was back to normal. We had spent a day with mum and normal life. I had spent most of that trip in the hospital room, the Doctor running some tests to determine my connection with time. All he could discover however was that I had an extended mental capacity compared to most humans of my time. He said that my mental capacity was probably better than most humans in the 52nd century when we had reached our peak in terms of brain development. He explained about the Time Lords who had heightened sensitivity and how they copped by shielding their mind, having a grounder and getting used to being exposed to slowly increasing amounts of time distortions.
The shields I had built over my life were enough to stop my mind from collapsing at the first major time disturbance I felt, but they weren't built to shield against something like that which they had determined was one of the reasons why I had suffered so much. So, I took the principle of shielding and filtering the influence of death, and applied it to time as well. Unfortunately, splitting my mind shields in such a way meant that, if we should ever come across an extremely strong telepath, I would struggle to actively keep my mind safe due to the fact that my mind shields where no longer built solely to keep people out.
Back in my previous life when I had been learning to shield my mind, one of the things that Severus had pounded into me was that the mind could only shield on two fronts: from external penetration and from internal emotional overload. I'd always been slightly different, with a third layer which combined both elements of those shields to restrict the influence of natural magic and death on her mind. In this life, the shields I'd originally constructed had simple been those which limited the flow of knowledge from granted to me from that connection to death, and consequently the developed empathy. Now, I was stretching what should be possible with mind shields to their limited, trying to keep the influence of multiple external and internal influences away from my mind. With the overlap, it would be very difficult to keep those shields fully active while also fighting off anything which was solely external to myself.
The Doctor felt, however, that it was not my mind's ability to deal with both the influence of time and death that was the problem. It was my body. My mind was strong enough that it could adapt and adjust, shields could be built and the Doctor could help ground me if we ever encountered such a thing again. But my body couldn't hack the strain. The body of a Time Lord had adapted to take a lot of pain and punishment, more so than a week and fragile human body, and so they were able to connect to such a fundamentally powerful force as time and not suffer the consequences. I, however, didn't have that luxury. My magic had acted to help sure up my body and limit the damage in the moment, but it was simple delaying the inevitable and I wouldn't cope under the stain long.
No matter which explanation was true, or even if both explanations held truth, there was always going to be the threat of my body or mind giving out if we encountered the wrong set of circumstances.
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"What's the emergency?" Rose demanded, as the Doctor set us on the track of something that had appeared in the vortex moments before.
"It's mauve." The Doctor responded, running around the console frantically trying to keep a track of what they were following.
"Mauve?" Rose asked confused.
"The universally recognised colour for danger." The Doctor responded.
"What happened to red?" Rose asked, her confusion not abating.
"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."
"And that's safe, is it?" Rose inquired sceptically.
"Totally." The Doctor responded when something went bang on the console and caught fire. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."
"Doctor, she's not impressed with you." I grumbled because I could hear the TARDIS upset humming in my head. I had learnt that although the Doctor had some connection to his TARDIS – and she could change things on the console to 'talk' with him - he didn't have as close a connection as I did. I could always hear her in my head, while the Doctor could only rarely do so.
"What exactly is this thing?"
"No idea." The Doctor responded, shooting me an apologetic look.
"Then why are we chasing it?" Rose asked confused.
"It's mauve and dangerous…, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London." The Doctor responded with an insane grin.
"Of course, it's always London." I said sarcastically as the Doctor finally landed.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" The Doctor asked as we stepped out of the TARDIS into a crowded housing block which didn't really exist in modern time.
"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" Rose teased.
"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow." The Doctor shook his head.
"And goats. And humans. And other species, and I would image not just from Earth." I imputed.
"Good point." The Doctor nodded his acceptance, offering me his arm. It had become common for me to walk around on his arm unless we were running or I was investigating on my own (not that he actually liked me going off on my own but I was capable of handling myself). "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month." The Doctor said, getting back on topic.
"A month? We were right behind it." Rose complained, walking on the Doctor's other side.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?" The Doctor grumbled.
"Yeah." Rose smiled.
"I'm sure the TARDIS would teach me." I agreed.
I was already scouting the library for books on the TARDIS since the Doctor had explained the number of times a new adventure had been started due to something breaking or failing. The Doctor had gotten better over the last five hundred years at fixing and identifying these faults and he regularly did maintenance, but when something new popped up that he hadn't encountered before it took him a little while to figure it out. If I learnt more about the TARDIS, not just how to fly her, then I might be able to help and support him in making sure their home was as she should be.
"How much is a little?" Rose asked, bouncing back to the conversation.
"A bit." The Doctor shrugged.
"Is that exactly a bit?" Rose asked sarcastically.
"Ish."
"What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked excitedly.
I rolled my eyes. "Why would he do that?"
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." The Doctor agreed with my assessment as he pulled out his psychic paper.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids." Rose read off as they came to a door with muffled noise coming from the other side.
"Sorry." The Doctor dropped my arm and leaned against the door.
"Not very Spock, is it, just asking." Rose grumbled.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?" The Doctor asked, pulling his screwdriver out.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"
"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" The Doctor asked, motioning to Rose's Union Flag shirt.
"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." Rose muttered self-consciously.
"Mummy? Mummy?" a faint child voice said. I looked around, trying to find the child which was radiating sadness so strongly I didn't need to focus to feel it.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." I faintly heard the Doctor say as he opened the door.
"Mummy?"
Rose must have heard the voice as well, because she suddenly called out to the Doctor. "Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!"
Ignoring Rose for the moment I headed to the nearest fire escape and used it to climb up the side of the building to where the child was stood on the roof. I didn't need the Doctor to solve problems, especially when doing something quickly could save a child's life. I faintly heard Rose following behind me instead of going to get the Doctor. Once I made it to the roof, I sighed when I realised that the kid was stood on top of the next building which was taller than the one that I was on.
"Just hold still, kid. I'll get you down." I called up to the kid. He was looking down on Rose and me through a gas mask.
"There's rope." Rose motioned to the side of the building. Running over, Rose tugged at it to make sure it was secure before she began to climb the rope, and I followed once she was high enough.
"Mummy. Balloon!" the kid pointed up to a barrage balloon that began drifting. My eyes widened in horror when the rope Rose and I were climbing moved away from the wall, and the child.
"Doctor!... Doctor!... Doctor!" Rose shouted in worry, as searchlights began to light the sky and explosions sounded.
"Rose, calm down." I shouted. "Stop moving, you'll loosen your grip." I ordered, tangling the rope around my legs to secure extra perches.
"I'm regretting this shirt now." Rose muttered, trying to calm down and follow my orders.
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We had drifted over Westminster, and Rose was doing well in holding on until a bomb exploded close by, the shock wave dislodging her. I released the rope with my hands and tried grabbing Rose but I wasn't fast enough and she slipped right through my fingers. I was left, hanging upside down on the rope with my leg's securing me, watching Rose fall to the ground.
I summoned my magic and prepared to cast a levitation charm in order to slow Rose's fall, but I had to be very careful that I used enough power that it would reach her and be able to take her weight, and accurate enough that I didn't hit something else. I let out a breath of relief when a beam of blue light caught her.
"Okay, okay, I've got you." An American voice sounded. I wasn't sure how he was able to talk to us without attracting the Nazi's attention, but right now I wasn't going to question it since he had just saved my sister's life.
"Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know, how?" Rose asked, trying to calm her panic.
"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."
"Descent pattern?"
"He's caught you in a tractor bean." I shouted down to her. The man must have used the emergency suspension filter to catch a falling organic matter if he was having to plan a route to bring her down to his ship. "He needs to work out how to get you from there to his ship."
"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument." The American voice said.
"You know, no one ever believes that." Rose grumbled as she struggled to get her phone out of her pocket.
"Thank you. That's much better."
"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone's off." Rose shouted sarcastically, allowing her panic to seep through.
"Be with you in a moment." The American responded, a smile in his voice. I rolled my eyes. After a moment he came back on the communication system. "Hold tight!"
"To what?" Rose demanded.
"Fair point." The American answered after a pause.
Rose suddenly disappeared and so did the tractor bean. I waited with bated breath for the American to come back on line.
"Okay, your turn." He said after a couple of minutes.
"Where's Rose?" I demanded first.
"She fainted. The Tractor beam sometimes scrambles the mind." The American responded.
"Right. I'm going to let go." I called out to him.
"I'll catch you." He promised.
Taking a deep breath, I circled my legs round, loosening the rope and allowing myself to free fall. The wind was pushing against me for only a minute before the tractor beam caught me. Before the man could ask, I switched off my phone.
"Thank you." The American's voice was amused, I noted. "I'm bringing you down."
The Tractor bean was weird, I decided. It was like Apparation in that I felt like I was spinning, but it wasn't nearly as uncomfortable. The sensation stopped when a man's arms were holding me.
"Thanks." I muttered to him, moving carefully in an indication that I wanted to be put down. The man complied and placed me on my feet.
I was in a small space craft; I didn't recognise the design so it was probably from one of the many alien races I hadn't studied yet. Rose was resting in the bunker bed next to where I was stood. The man who had saved us was taller than me (not a particularly hard feet), but shorter than the Doctor, handsome and obviously strong.
"Thanks for saving us. I'm Annamae Tyler and this is my sister, Rose Tyler." I motioned to where she was resting as we moved to the front of the ship.
The man sat in what was obviously the pilots chair while I sat in the chair next to it – the co-pilot or passenger's chair. This ship wasn't for long distance or sustained flight, if I had to guess I would say we were in a war ship.
"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer." The man introduced himself, handing over a blank wallet.
"I'm guessing you just handed me psychic paper since I can't read it?" I asked raising a challenging eyebrow. I could train myself to see what they wanted me to see, but I didn't see the point.
"Impressive." Jack complemented.
"Thanks." I smiled at him briefly before looking out the window to the German air raid that was happening. I hoped the Doctor was staying out of trouble, and looking for the thing that had fallen to earth. Then again, if he was looking for the object that had fallen to earth, I highly doubted that he would be keeping out of trouble. Experience had taught me that if something was wrong with whatever planet or time they had landed in, the Doctor would find it and then solve the problem.
"I've never none someone to allow themselves to freefall and trust a stranger to catch them with such calmness before." Jack commented, a challenge clear as day in his statement.
"You saved my sister," I looked to him out the corner of my eye. Now that I was in the same place as Jack, I was starting to get a sense of him. there was something deep in me which was saying that I could trust this man – trust him in a way that I hadn't trusted anyone since Ron or Neville. There was also something else – something lost about him, but I couldn't place what it was without focusing more on his life and mind, which was not something I enjoyed doing. "If you saved my sister, then I had faith that you'd do the same for me."
"I see. And the lack of fear was because of your faith in a stranger?" Jack smirked flirtatiously, "I'm flattered."
"Falling is just flying without direction." I quoted softly, keeping my eyes forward and ignoring the flirting. I wasn't the sort of person easily swayed by attraction, and Jack would pick up on the distinct disinterest. As handsome as he was, Jack had nothing on my Doctor.
"Better now?" Jack's question brought my attention to the back of the plane; Rose had woken up and was making her way through the ship.
"You got lights in here?" Rose questioned, trying to look around the darkened interior of the ship.
Jack hit a button which lit up the area, allowing them to see the loose wires that were dangling from various points in the ceiling.
"Hello." Jack greeted Rose.
"Hello." Rose responded with a shy smile.
"Hello." Jack smirked amusedly. I raised an eyebrow, not understanding why Jack was amused or Rose embarrassed by this repetition of greetings.
"Let's not start that again." Rose warned, taking a seat on the chair that was behind Jacks', who had span around to face Rose.
"Okay." Jack agreed.
"So, who're you supposed to be, then?" Rose asked, looking at me confused and wondering why I wasn't saying anything.
I shrugged, and sat back, curious by what this man wanted. He was letting of emotions of lust, and trust – projecting them onto me and Rose and I was wondering why. He wasn't doing it in a manipulative way, more like a salesman using his charisma to put the potential buyer at ease.
"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer." Jack introduced himself again and handed over the psychic paper. He was testing her, I realised. He knew I could see through the paper, and he wanted to know if Rose could too.
"Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me." Rose responded with a proud smile.
"How do you know?" Jack challenged. To find one person who can see through the psychic paper is rare, to find two people is nearly unheard of. Even when he was a Time Agent, he didn't often come across people who saw blank paper since it was more common for them to identify a slight irregularity in the paper indicating that it was psychic.
"Two things. One, we have a friend who uses this all the time." Rose slapped the psychic paper against the palm of her hand with a smile.
"Ah." Jack said, shooting me a look since I hadn't mentioned this friend of ours. Then again, I hadn't told him much beyond my name, either.
"And two, you just handed me a piece of paper telling me you're single and you work out."
"Tricky thing, psychic paper." Jack said, not remotely embarrassed.
"Yeah. Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." Rose responded cheekily, handing the paper back.
"Oh, you sort of have a boyfriend called Mickey Smith but you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free." Jack read of the paper and I raised an eyebrow.
"You don't 'sort of have a boyfriend', you do have a boyfriend unless you've decided to dump him. In which case he deserves to know first." I told Rose annoyed. This wasn't the first time since Adam that she had flirted with someone during their adventures, but Jack was actively and obviously flirting back.
"Shall we try and get along without the psychic paper?" Rose asked with a slight wince at my reproachful tone.
"That would be better, wouldn't it?" Jack agreed, pocketing the psychic paper as he shot a slightly uneasy look at me.
"Nice spaceship." Rose complement, looking around herself and changing the topic.
"War ship." I corrected.
"Chula." Jack nodded impressed with my knowledge.
"Very Spock." Rose complemented with a smile.
"Who?" Jack asked confused.
"Rose, Star Trek hadn't been released in the 1940s, and Jack's probably from the far future and another planet. I doubt he's learnt about a human TV program." I chided her. I swear, Rose was terrible at maintaining the time line.
"Not a local boy, then?" Rose asked sheepishly.
"A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, and fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades. Guessing you're not local girls, either." Jack responded.
"Guessing right." Rose responded, going to lean out the window but pulling her hands back sharply with a hiss of pain.
"Burned your hands on the rope?" Jack questioned.
"Yeah." Rose looked down at her hands for a moment before looking out the window. "We're parked in mid-air! Can't anyone down there see us?"
"No. Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?" Jack held out his hand for Rose to place her own in.
"Why?" Rose asked suspiciously.
"Please?" Jack said, holding his hand out for Rose. She looked to me hesitantly, and at my nod placed her hands in his. "You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a Time Agent a mile away."
"Time Agent?" Rose questioned confused.
My eye's narrowed sharply and shot to Jack's wrist, where sure enough a Vortex Manipulator was sat. I had asked the Doctor the likelihood of running into another time traveller, and he had explained about the time agency to me. How the agency was first set up as a historical research project but, at some point, they became like a crossover between bounty-hunters and time police.
While Jack was talking, he wrapped his scarf around Rose's hand and wrists. "I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though not, I must say, by barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"
"It was an accident, there was a child on a roof top and the rope looked to be secured to the building since we couldn't see the barrage balloon from where we were standing." I cut in before Rose could say anything. "What are you doing?"
"Try to keep still." Jack ordered, pressing a button which caused little glowing bundles of golden light to zoom over Rose's burnt palms.
"Nano-genes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin." Jack explained, unwrapping Roses' hands. The Nano-genes instead of disappearing flew over to me and covered my legs and hands.
"Well, tell them thanks." Rose responded, watching the light surround me as it healed the rope burns that I had sustained and been ignoring since the pain was nothing new to me and my body had already begun the healing process.
"Shall we get down to business?" Jack straightened up once the nano-genes had finished their job and disappeared.
"Business?" Rose asked confused.
"Shall we have a drink on the balcony? Bring up the glasses." Jack ordered, grabbing a bottle of wine and pressing a button which caused a hatch to open at the top of his spaceship.
I followed him up the stairs and into the open air. The spaceship was invisible from the outside, which was mildly disconcerting. I stepped closed to where Jack had done, not wanting to fall off the sides of the ship.
"I know I'm standing on something." Rose said, coming out of the spaceship, holding two glasses. Jack pulled a remote control out of his pocket, and pressed a button which made the spaceship appear.
"Okay, you have an invisible spaceship." Rose said, looking around.
"Yeah." Jack agreed.
"Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason." Rose spotted the big clock that they were stood next too.
"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." Jack responded confidently as he opened the bottle of wine and filled the two glasses Rose had brought. "Only two?"
"I don't drink." I told Jack, looking out over the city of London with sad eyes. This was the closest to the World Wars we had ever landed. Now I was stood outside of the ship, I could see the greater scale of the devastation – the fires and the destroyed buildings.
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Rose and Jack sat on the edge of the spaceship drinking their wine, while I sat silently next to them, waiting for Jack to make his move.
"You know, it's getting a bit late. We should really be getting back." Rose said, after a while.
"We're discussing business." Jack protested as Rose stood.
"This isn't business. This is champagne." Rose pointed out.
"I try never to discuss business with a clear head. Are you two travelling alone? Are you authorised to negotiate with me?"
"That depends on what you want to negotiate." I responded, taking over the conversation. Rose was to affect by the lust that Jack was emitting and her own crush on a handsome man.
"I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?" Jack asked, turning to me, realising that despite all his flirting with Rose, I was the one in control.
"Only small items. We're still new to the agency. My partner is the leader of our group and is the one authorised to make larger payments." I explained.
"Partner?" Jack questioned with a raised eyebrow and a suggestive tone.
"He's like our companion." Rose imputed into the conversation.
"We should really be getting back to him. He'll be worried if we stay out of contact too long." I picked up again, hopping Rose didn't say anything too foolish.
"Him?" Jack asked.
"Do you have the time?" Rose asked, supressing her blush as she realised what Jack was implying.
Jack rolled his eyes, and used the remote to light up Big Ben which struck nine-thirty.
"Okay, that was flash. That was on the flash side." Rose giggled.
"So, when you say your companion, just how disappointed should I be?" Jack asked, pulling Rose close as she was the most susceptible to his flirting.
"Okay, we're standing in mid-air. On a spaceship, during a German air raid. Do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me?" Rose asked hesitantly, but despite her words she leaned into Jack. I sighed, realising that they were going to forget about me.
"Perhaps not." Jack agreed, stepping back slightly.
"It was just a suggestion." Rose said, almost disappointed that Jack had stepped away.
"Do you like Glenn Miller?" Jack asked abruptly, and used his remote to make Moonlight Serenade play through the speakers.
Jack stepped back towards Rose and they danced. I ignored everything else that was happening and focused solely on what Jack was saying although I did keep an eye on the placement of Jack's hands. Jack caught my glare over Rose's shoulder and his hands stopped wondering down her waist.
"It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth."
I raised my eyebrow at that last piece of information. I had identified Jack's ship as a warship and, in turn, he had said it was Chula. If the thing they had followed though the Vortex was a Chula warship, then it couldn't be the last one in existence. "And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever. That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"
"A Chula Warship, and one of the last of its kind, is above us. This will have to be discussed with our partner." I cut in before Rose could say anything stupid.
Jack had just said several things that didn't make any sense. He had parked the thing they had chased through the Vortex purposefully where a bomb was going to land, and he had then tracked them down. He wanted to sell it to them, but he was lying about what it was. Which meant he was planning on never letting us see what it was – hence the bomb sight. He was a con-man, and something the Doctor needed to know about.
"Well, then we'd best go find him." Jack smiled, releasing Rose and turning off the music.
"And how're you going to do that?" Rose questioned.
"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech." Jack shrugged, showing the Manipulator on his wrist.
"Finally, a professional." Rose muttered with a pleased smile.
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"Hello?" Jack and Rose were calling as they wandered through the hospital that they had tracked the Doctor down to. Albion hospital was it name, the same hospital that would in seventy years' time be the place they would bring the space pig that the Slitheen will forcibly crash into Big Ben.
I stayed silent, looking around at the corridor and into the wards where there were patients in every cot, wearing gas masks. But there were no doctors or nurses running around the place like there should have been. If it wasn't for the patents, I would say the place was disserted. And the feeling I was getting from the walls… it made me shudder and wrap my arms around myself in a comforting gesture.
"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness; I've been hearing all about you on the way over." Jack said, holding his hand out for the Doctor to shake as he appeared out of one of the wards.
"He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents." Rose inserted, trying to alert the Doctor to the lies they had told.
"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Smith." Jack said disappearing into the ward.
"Mister Smith?" the Doctor asked as they walked towards the ward.
"It was that or Rose would have called you Mister Spoke." I responded tightly, looping my arms through the Doctor and leaning lightly into his side to alert him to something being wrong.
"Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll." The Doctor asked, gentle squeezing my arm twice to let me know he understood and had found something wrong in turn.
"Who's strolling? We went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." Rose responded, walking ahead of us.
"What?!" the Doctor, stopped shocked.
"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Rose asked before disappearing in the room after Jack.
"Chula?" The Doctor asked confused.
"Jack, he's trying to sell us a Chula warship." I explained quietly.
When they entered the ward, it was to find Jack scanning the patients with his wrist strap.
"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" Jack looked to the Doctor who ignored him for the moment. Something was tugging at the corner of his mind, something important.
"What kind of Chula ship landed here?"
"What?" Jack asked confused.
"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer." Rose explained when Jack didn't.
"What kind of warship?"
"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this." Jack waved to the patients angrily.
"This started at the crash site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" The Doctor demanded once more.
"An ambulance!" Jack shouted, before bringing up his wrist strap. "Look." He produced a hologram of the cylindrical device they had followed through the vortex. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. Its space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait…"
"Bait?" Rose asked offended.
"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Jack finished.
"You said it was a war ship."
"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I do; I'm a con man! I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"
"Just a couple more freelancers." Rose spat, annoyed that she had flirted with this man who had been lying to them. I didn't react, I had worked out he had been lying to them a while back, but his motive wasn't money, he was searching for something important to him. Something taken from him by the time agency, which is why he was so angry that they had lied about belonging to the agency.
"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain? At least she looks like she could fit into any time." he motioned to where I was stood next to the Doctor. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."
"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked hesitantly.
"Human DNA is being rewritten… by an idiot." The Doctor responded darkly.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked confused.
"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" The Doctor asked frustrated.
"Maybe there isn't a point. Maybe it's instinct." I suggested, looking around the room sadly. So many people affected by this thing, I hoped that the Doctor found a way of saving them, because otherwise hundreds of people would die.
Suddenly the patients sat up, and I gasped in shock. They were all emitting the same hopeful, sad, lonely feeling. All of them, every single patient in the hospital and it was nearly overwhelming.
"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" the patients asked together in childish voices.
"What's happening?" Rose asked in worry.
The patients all stood and started walking towards us. The Doctor backed us up, standing between us and the patients like a human shield. It was something he regularly did, like putting his body first would shield everyone behind him from the danger, when it might just delay the danger by a handful of seconds if they were lucky.
"I don't know." The Doctor responded.
"Mummy?"
"Don't let them touch you."
"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked, looking around in worry.
"You're looking at it." the Doctor responded grimly.
"Help me, mummy." The patients were chanting together, and my chest tightened like someone was squeezing my heart. "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."
"Go to your room." I suddenly snapped in the same tone I used on Teddy when he was a young child and had broken one of my rules. Instincts of being a mother suddenly taking control and dominantly inserting themselves since these patients – despite having the physical body of an adult – were emitting the emotions of a child. Normally I would seek to comfort when I felt these emotions but, in this case, comfort wasn't the best option. The patients stopped moving and stared at me. "Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!" I pointed randomly in a direction, and prayed this worked.
The patients all hung their heads in shame together before shuffling away, back to their beds.
"I'm really glad that worked." The Doctor breathed in relief, turning to me with a bright smile.
"Me too." I told him, taking a calming breath. Now the patients were back to sleep, the emotions weren't as overwhelming, it was just background noise again.
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"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked, sitting down in a chair.
I was back to leaning on the Doctor's arm, hoping to not be hit with the emotions again, but knowing I would be and trying to strengthen the walls around my mind. Jack was sat at a desk, while the Doctor watched him.
"They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone." Jack responded to Rose when it was obvious the Doctor wasn't going to.
"How was your con supposed to work?" The Doctor asked him.
"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." Jack explained.
"Yeah. Perfect." The Doctor agreed cynically.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." Jack laughed but with the Doctor and my disapproving stare he stopped. "Getting a hint of disapproval."
"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty." Jack said standing up.
"Rose." The Doctor ordered, heading out of the ward. He didn't need to say anything to Annamae since she had gotten very good at reading his body language and so could anticipate what he was going to do.
"Are we getting out of here?" Rose asked hopefully.
"We're going upstairs." The Doctor responded.
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it." Jack shouted in denial. But his emotions where fluctuating between anger, worry and guilt.
"I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." The Doctor stopped in the doorway as an alarm sounded.
"What's that?" Rose asked, looking around.
"The all clear." Jack said reluctantly.
"I wish." The Doctor said darkly, stalking off with me besides him.
"Have you got a blaster?"
We had moved ahead of Jack and Rose who were calling for us. The door the Doctor led me too was locked, but instead of sonic-ing it open, he looked down the staircase to were Jack and Rose were.
"Sure!" Jack responded running up the stairs to join us.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken." the Doctor informed us, motioning to the locked door.
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out. Get it open." He ordered Jack, stepping back. Jack pointed a gun at the door, but instead of firing bullets he disintegrated the lock, leaving behind a square whole.
"Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?" the Doctor asked, examining the gun.
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked shocked.
"Once." The Doctor responded.
"Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot." Jack said, putting the gun away.
"Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." The Doctor smiled before leading me into the room where I took a sharp intake of breath and nearly doubled over like I had been punched.
"Yes, I can feel it too." The Doctor said sadly, supporting my weight as I adjusted to the emotions radiating from the room.
The Doctor as a telepathic being could – to an extent – feel the emotions held in the room. If his mind hadn't been scared from the loss of his people, he was sure that the connection would be stronger. As time had passed and he used what telepathic skills he could to help Annamae, he got stronger. But he knew that Annamae was empathetic as well as telepathic and she was still getting used to the developing skill. Despite her impressive mind shields, it was going to take her a while to get used to feeling emotions that weren't her's – especially when they were so strong and concentrated.
The room was split into two parts. The first had filing cabinets, electronic equipment and paperwork. The second was through a broken observation window, empty except for the child's drawings of a women.
"What do you think?" The Doctor asked.
"Something got out of here." Jack said, looking around.
"Yeah. And?" the Doctor prompted, testing Jack.
"Something powerful. Angry."
"Powerful and angry." The Doctor said, looking around the room.
He didn't mention the sadness, the loneliness or the fear that I could feel and I was sure he could feel as well. The concentration in this room was stronger than anywhere else in the hospital, even when all the patients were awake.
"A child? I suppose this explains Mummy." Jack said, looking at the pictures.
"How could a child do this?" Rose asked, jumping when the Doctor turned on the tape machine behind them.
"Do you know where you are?" a male voice asked.
"Are you my mummy?" the voice of the child we had found on the roof top responded.
"Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know…"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before." Rose said quietly as the Doctor and I entered the second part of the room.
"Me too." The Doctor responded with a frown.
"Mummy?"
"Always 'are you my mummy?' Like he doesn't know."
"Mummy?"
"Why doesn't he know?" Rose questioned, confused.
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Rose asked, noticing that the Doctor was stood frowning at the floor.
"Can you sense it?" the Doctor questioned.
"Sense what?" Jack asked confused.
"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" The Doctor asked.
"Mummy?"
"Sadness. Fear. Loneliness. Confusion." I said quietly, listing the feelings that were coming from the walls. "Anger, why won't he tell me where my mummy is? Why isn't she here? Why hasn't she come for me? I'm scared. I'm scared and alone, and I want my mummy." I muttered quietly slipping into first person as I allowed the emotions to submerge me.
"Annamae, be careful, I don't want to lose you to the emotions." The Doctor broke me out of it, with his calming voice and mind. "There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food."
"Mummy, please?"
"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?"
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless." Jack protested.
"Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"
"Altered how?" Rose asked as a gentle tapping sounded through the room.
"I'm here!"
"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and Annamae just sent it to its room." The Doctor smiled.
"Doctor." Rose said hesitantly.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?"
"End of the tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago." The Doctor said, his smile falling.
"I'm here, now. Can't you see me?"
"I sent it to its room. This is its room." I realised. We all span around to face the observation room where the child was stood staring at us.
"Are you my mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor?" Rose asked, hoping for a plan.
"Okay, on my signal make for the door." Jack said taking charge.
"Mummy?"
Jack pulled his blaster out of his pocket and aim it at the child. "Now!" Jack shouted, before pausing in confusion and staring at the banana in shock.
"Mummy?"
The Doctor pulled Jack's blaster out and pointed it at the wall, making a square hole big enough for us to climb through.
"Go now! Don't drop the banana!" the Doctor shouted, pushing me towards the wall.
"Why not?!" Jack shouted back.
"Good source of potassium!" The Doctor responded, going through the whole.
When Jack came through, he snatched his gun back from the Doctor. "Give me that!" pointing it at the wall, he did something that caused it to return to its original state. "Digital rewind. Nice switch."
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate." The Doctor responded smugly.
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack questioned, not sure if he should be impressed or horrified.
"Bananas are good." the Doctor said in reply. Their conversation was stopped by the wall cracking as the child hit it with great force. "Come on!" the Doctor made to run down the corridor but was forced to back up as patients came from around the corner in either direction.
"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."
"It's keeping us here till it can get at us." The Doctor realised looking between the patients and the wall.
"It's controlling them?" Jack asked horrified.
"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital." The Doctor corrected.
"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?" Jack said, pointing his gun at one group of patients.
"I've got a sonic, er. Oh, never mind." The Doctor said, looking at his sonic screwdriver and realising how unhelpful it was in that moment especially when compared to Jack's sonic device. Perhaps he should look into upgrading it? Making a new one with new functions?
"What?" Jack questioned.
"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that." The Doctor shouted back.
"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"
"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"
"A sonic what?!"
"Screwdriver!" the Doctor shouted turning around. Jack also span around in shock and I used that moment to grab Jack's wrist and fire at the floor, causing it to disappear and us to fall through. When we hit the ground, Jack rolled and returned the ceiling to its place.
"Doctor, Rose are you okay?" I asked, standing up.
"Could've used a warning." The Doctor grumbled while Rose just gave me a thumbs up.
"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack demanded, turning to the Doctor.
"I do." The Doctor responded.
"Lights." Rose said, looking around the room and going in search of lights instead of being caught in the middle of the argument that she had no doubt was about to happen.
"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?"
"What, you've never been bored?"
"There's got to be a light switch." Rose muttered.
"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"
Rose turned on the light switch and immediately regretted it since all the patients sat up in their beds.
"Door." Jack said, running to the nearest door. When he found it locked, he tried blasting it open, but it didn't work.
"Damn it!" Jack hit the gun against his hand. "It's the special features. They really drain the battery."
"The battery?" Rose demanded annoyed as the Doctor unlocked the door. "That's so lame!"
"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory." Jack responded once we were all relatively safe inside a store room.
"Oh, I know. First day we met him, he blew our job up. That's practically how he communicates." Rose nodded her understanding.
"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit." The Doctor said, moving away from the door.
"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Jack said incredulously.
"Well, it's got to find us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!" the Doctor span around.
"Well, I've got a banana and, in a pinch, you could put up some shelves." Jack sassed.
"Window." The Doctor pointed to said wall feature.
"Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories."
"And no other exits." Rose finished.
"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said, sitting down in the wheelchair that had been stored in the room.
"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" the Doctor asked Rose as I leant against the cabinet, closing my eyes and trying to regain my equilibrium. I could try apparating us out, but I don't know how the emotions would affect my concentration and I didn't want to splinch anyone. Then there was the fact that Rose still didn't know about my magic. Even when I had used magic against the Reaper she hadn't realised that it was me who caused it to fly into the TARDIS since she had been so distracted by her grief.
"Doctor." Rose complained.
"They were hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Jack responded.
"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?" The Doctor said, shaking his head and choosing to ignore what had just been said since Jack had already demonstrated that he was a walking innuendo.
"Yeah. Jack just disappeared." Rose said. My eyes snapped open and looked to the chair where Jack had been sat, to find that he had indeed disappeared.
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"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Rose complained, spinning around the room having searched everywhere – even behind the boxes for the missing man.
"I'm making an effort not to be insulted." The Doctor complained. I shot him an amused look.
"I mean, men." Rose responded.
"Okay, thanks, that really helped." The Doctor muttered.
"You're a male Time Lord, Rose meant a human man," I offered, getting a smile from the Doctor for the attempt at trying to act normal despite the negative emotions that were still plaguing me.
"Rose? Annamae? Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship." Jack's voice said over the radio. "I used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there."
"How're you speaking to us?" The Doctor asked, holding up the disconnected wires.
"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill."
"Now there's a coincidence." The Doctor muttered.
"What is?" Jack asked confused.
"The child can Om-Com, too." The Doctor answered.
"He can?" Rose asked shocked.
"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the TARDIS phone."
"The one on the outside?" I asked curiously.
"Yes." The Doctor nodded seriously.
"What's so special about that phone?" Jack asked confused, and not understanding why this was so serious.
"The phone outside the TARDIS isn't connected to anything, much like the radio we're talking on now." I answered.
"What, you mean the child can phone us?" Rose asked, shocked and horrified by the prospect, especially considering the fact that they were already trapped inside a storage cupboard.
"And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you." The child's voice sounded through the radio this time.
"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack questioned.
"Loud and clear."
"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do." Jack told them.
"Coming to find you, mummy." The child sang in a very creepy way.
"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack questioned as Moonlight Serenade sounded.
"Our song." Rose smiled sheepishly.
The room descended into silence as the music played. The Doctor was running his screwdriver along the wall. I wasn't sure what he was trying to do, but I knew he needed to be doing something while he was thinking over the situation that they found themselves in so I didn't stop him.
"What're you doing?" Rose asked, rolling around in the wheelchair. She hadn't come to understand the Doctor's habits and coping mechanisms as well as I had over the months, and she still questioned the Doctor and his motives at every turn. It was something that infuriated me, but the Doctor seemed used to it, and from his retelling of previous companions such as Zoe, Ace, Jamie, Sarah Jane and Ian and Barbra, I suppose he was used to it.
"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars." The Doctor explained.
"You don't think he's coming back, do you?" Rose questioned.
"Wouldn't bet my life." The Doctor muttered in reply.
"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked confused.
"Why do you?" The Doctor responded.
"He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." Rose paused for a moment before continuing. "I trust him because he's like you. Except with dating and dancing. What?
The Doctor had looked away from the wall for a moment to stare at Rose before going back to resonating concrete. "You just assume I'm…"
"What?"
"You just assume that I don't dance."
"What, are you telling me you do dance?"
"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced." I suppressed a smile at this. Ah so many connotations to the word dance. Especially since I knew that he had a wife and children at some point.
"You?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Problem?" the Doctor turned away from the wall to look at Rose.
"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?" Rose teased.
"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast."
Rose turned to the radio and turned up the volume.
"You've got the moves? Show me your moves." Rose held out her hands.
"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." The Doctor complained.
"Jack'll be back. He'll get us out. So come on. The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances."
The Doctor jumped down from the boxes he was standing on. He accepted Rose's hands and turned them around so he was looking at her palms.
"Barrage balloon?" The Doctor questioned.
"What?" Rose asked confused.
"You were hanging from a barrage balloon." The Doctor expanded.
"Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air-raid, Union Jack all over my chest."
"I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy friendly." The Doctor muttered, looking at me over Rose's head.
"It's a new development." I explained, fighting a smile. I still had the awful habit of getting in to trouble – something that had carried over from my first life - but I was capable of getting myself out without much aid most of the time, but Rose normally needed either the Doctor or I to go and rescue her whenever she happened to find herself in trouble.
"Is this you dancing? Because I've got notes." Rose said, trying to bring the conversation back.
"Hanging from a rope thousands feet above London. Not a cut, not a bruise."
"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up." Rose smiled.
"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?"
"Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain."
"He's not really a Captain, Rose."
"Do you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain envy. You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."
"If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked."
"Yeah? Shame I missed that."
"Actually, I quit." Jack said, making the Doctor and Rose step apart and realise that they had moved. "Nobody takes my frock. Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."
"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is." The Doctor said, looking around himself.
"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes." Jack smirked, ducking below the console.
"This is a Chula ship."
"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous."
The Doctor snapped his fingers and the nano-genes appeared around his hand. I narrowed my eyes, I hadn't realised he had been hurt.
"They're what fixed my hands up, Jack called them er…" Rose clicked her fingers trying to remember.
"Nano-genes." I answered.
"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." The Doctor flicked his wrist, dismissing them. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."
"As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing." Jack said, sitting in the captain's chair and fiddling with some wires.
"We were talking about dancing." The Doctor said.
"It didn't look like talking." Jack smirked.
"It didn't feel like dancing." Rose added.
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While Jack was resetting the ship, I was sat on the bed next to the Doctor while Rose was talking with Jack.
"So, you used to be a Time Agent now you're trying to con them?" Rose questioned Jack.
"If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money." Jack answered.
"Then why do you do it?"
"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back."
"They stole your memories?" Rose asked horrified. I exchanged a look with the Doctor, silently asking him what he was thinking. The Doctor sighed tiredly, and stared down at his hands.
"Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know he's right not to. Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?"
When they arrived at the crash site, Jack teleported us all to the ground.
"There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important." Jack said, looking over some crates at the soldiers who were guarding the ambulance.
"We've got to get past him." The Doctor frowned.
"Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?" Rose asked, straightening out her shirt.
"Wouldn't work, your shirt makes you stand out like a saw thumb. No one would dare wearing something like that, and the fabric is obviously not from this century. You're more likely to be detained as a threat then distract the guard." I answered, narrowing my eyes at the soldier in a long coat, marching back and forward across the train tracks.
"Besides, I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up." Jack said, moving out from behind their hiding place and heading towards the guard.
"Relax, he's a fifty first century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." The Doctor explained to Rose's confused look.
"How flexible?" Rose questioned.
"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy." The Doctor explained, and I smiled.
"Meaning?"
"So many species, so little time."
"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and…"
"Dance." The Doctor and I finished.
Suddenly the Doctor started running forward as the guard fell to his knees and started changing.
"Stay back!" the Doctor shouted.
"You men, stay away!" Jack repeated the order to the soldiers, who followed his instructions since he was in a captain's coat.
"The effect's become air-borne, accelerating." The Doctor said, looking at the man who was lying on the floor. The air raid sirens started up.
"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked hesitantly.
"Nothing." The Doctor responded.
"Ah, here they come again." Jack said, looking to the sky where they could see the German fighter planes trying to bomb the city and evade the English Spitefires.
"All we need. Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?" Rose asked, looking to Jack.
"Never mind about that. If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left."
"For what?" Jack questioned.
"Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?" The Doctor looked to the side where there was a barn.
Once they had freed a young woman, who the Doctor identified as Nancy, from her handcuffs the Doctor lit up the bomb sight and uncovered the spacecraft.
"You see? Just an ambulance." Jack said to the Doctor.
"That's an ambulance?" Nancy questioned Rose who had stayed back to comfort the young women.
"It's hard to explain. It's from another world." Rose said hesitantly.
"They've been trying to get in." Jack said frowning as he examined the access code.
"Of course they have. They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?" The Doctor question as Jack tried unlocking the ambulance.
"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it." Jack explained, before he jumped back as it sparked and a red flashing light lit up on the keypad. "Didn't happen last time."
"It hadn't crashed last time. There'll be emergency protocols." The Doctor explained.
"Doctor, the patients." I suddenly said, feeling their emotions get closer.
"Captain, secure those gates!" The Doctor ordered, using his title and in his own way forgiving and accepting Jack. He had done the same with Mickey, when he had proven himself, the Doctor had called him by name (or in Jack's case his title). I wasn't sure what Jack had done to earn that forgiveness/grudging respect but I was glad since I liked Jack and thought he could do with a second chance.
"Why?"
"Just do it! Nancy, how'd you get in here?" The Doctor asked as Jack ran off.
"I cut the wire."
"Show Rose. Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty-eight D." the Doctor said, throwing Rose his sonic.
"What?" Rose asked confused.
"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!"
When Jack came back, he went back to trying to open the ambulance. I just kept an eye on the doors, ready to alert the Doctor when they broke through.
"It's empty. Look at it." Jack said as he finally got it open, as Rose returned with Nancy.
"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?"
"I don't know." Rose shook her head, but I had realised what the Doctor meant.
"Nano-genes." I breathed in horror and understanding as the implications of what they had discovered fully registered.
"It wasn't empty, Captain. There was enough nano-genes in there to rebuild a species."
"Oh, God." Jack breathed, looking sick. I moved over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He couldn't deny what he had done now faced with the evidence and the Doctor's logic.
"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashed, the nano-genes escaped. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask."
"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose asked shocked.
"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nano-gene. One problem, though. These nano-genes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"
"I didn't know." Jack breathed. The Doctor walked over the ambulance as the patience approached.
"Mummy. Mummy."
"Rose!" Nancy shouted in worry. Rose retreated to the Doctor while I placed a comforting arm around Nancy. She was terrified of the situation they had found themselves in, but she was trying to be strong. Just like she had been trying to be strong for years, hiding her sadness and anger behind a calm face and kindness.
"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" Rose asked, looking to the red light that had turned on when the alarm sounded.
"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." The Doctor explained, looking to the gates.
"But the gas mask people aren't troops."
"They are now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nano-genes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you." The Doctor explained.
"That's why the child's so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing."
"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four-year-old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them." The Doctor said, looking to the patients that had surrounded them.
"Why don't they attack?" Jack questioned confused.
"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander." The Doctor smiled cynically for a moment.
"The child?" Jack asked incredulously.
"Jamie." Nancy corrected, glaring at Jack.
"What?" Jack questioned.
"Not the child. Jamie."
"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose questioned hesitantly looking to the sky.
"Any second."
"What's the matter, Captain? A bit close to the volcano for you?"
"He's just a little boy." Nancy continued to explain sadly.
"I know." The Doctor said soothingly.
"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." Nancy muttered.
"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can."
"So what're we going to do?" Rose questioned.
"I don't know." The Doctor answered.
"It's my fault." Nancy muttered tearfully.
"No." the Doctor disagreed.
"It is. It's all my fault."
"How can it be your…" the Doctor questioned, but cut off as the patients started asking for their mother. "Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty-one? Older than you look, yes?"
"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." Jack said, looking to the sky where the bombings were falling closer to us.
"You can teleport us out." Rose turned to Jack desperately.
"Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols."
"So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do." The Doctor said, not even turning away from Nancy as he put together the answers and a plan in his head.
"Jack?" Rose asked, as Jack raised his remote and look regretfully at us before activating his teleport.
"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway. He's not your brother, is he? A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him."
"Are you my mummy?" Jamie asked as the gates opened.
"He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop."
"Mummy?"
"Tell him. Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and tell him." I let Nancy go after squeezing her shoulders in reassurance. I trusted the Doctor; he wouldn't suggest something like this if he didn't think that it had a high probability of working.
Nancy started walking towards her son, who was approaching on his own.
"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"
"Yes. Yes, I am your mummy." Nancy answered tearfully.
"Mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"I'm here."
"Are you my mummy?"
"Yes."
"Are you my mummy?"
"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." The Doctor said in concerned. I grasped his hand in support.
"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry." Nancy knelt down and hugged her son. Immediately nano-genes surrounded them.
"What's happening? Doctor, it's changing her, we should…" Rose tried to run forward but the Doctor put his arm out to stop her.
"Shush! Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nano-genes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out."
"What's happening?"
"See? Recognising the same DNA." The Doctor smiled and ran forward as Jamie let Nancy go.
"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor removed Jamie's mask, discarding it to the side as he picked the kid up and span him in a hug. "Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it."
"What happened?" Nancy asked, regaining her feet.
"The nano-genes recognised the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them! Ha-ha! Mother knows best!" the Doctor was smiling blindingly as he handed Jamie back to his mother.
"Oh, Jamie." Nancy pulled her son back into a hug.
"Doctor, that bomb." Rose said hesitantly as the explosions got closer and closer to them.
"Taken care of it." the Doctor responded.
"How?"
"Psychology." The Doctor answered, motioning Nancy and Jamie.
As the Bomb hurtled towards them it was caught in the tractor beam from Jack's ship. Jack himself appeared astride the bomb.
"Doctor!" Jack called.
"Good lad!" the Doctor called up.
"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long."
"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?" the Doctor asked, running to the ambulance.
"Annamae?" Jack called.
"Yes." I called up to him.
"Thank you."
"Always." I responded, smiling at him despite the tears that I could feel building in my eyes. He was saying goodbye.
"Rose?"
"Yeah?" Rose asked.
"Goodbye." Jack and the bomb vanished only to reappear moments later. "By the way, love the tee-shirt." The spaceship flew off towards the atmosphere.
The Doctor jumped down from the ambulance and summoned the nano-genes to himself.
"What are you doing?" Rose questioned.
"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." The Doctor said, flinging the nano-genes to the waiting patients, who all fell to the ground. "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives!"
While the Doctor was dealing with the patients and resetting history, I went over and spoke with Nancy and Jamie. Giving her the neckless I had been wearing. It was worth enough money that she could put a deposit on a house and live for the next couple of years while she found herself a job. She tried protesting, but I refused to let her give it back.
"The nano-genes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!" the Doctor was still bouncing around when we returned to the TARDIS. He hadn't stop smiling yet, but I needed to question him about Jack.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas." Rose smiled, leaning against one of the coral struts.
"Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?" The Doctor snapped off quickly.
"What?" Rose questioned in shock.
"And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives! I need more days like this."
"Doctor." I interrupted his joy. "Not everyone." I locked eyes with him, silently asking him about Jack. The Doctor stared back for a moment, before sighing and nodding his acceptance.
"Everybody." The Doctor confirmed, starting up the TARDIS and setting it on cause. As he landed, he turned on Moonlight Serenade. "Rose would you mind getting the door. And Annamae, would you like this dance?" he questioned, offering his hand.
"Well, hurry up then!" Rose called out the door, while the Doctor span me around the console room.
"Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draught." The Doctor turned his head away from me to look at Jack for a moment. I let the Doctor go so he could start up the engines.
"Welcome to the TARDIS." I greeted Jack with a smile.
"Much bigger on the inside." Jack said, looking around himself in admiration.
"You'd better be." The Doctor warned.
"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is you may have this dance." Rose offered Jack her hand, while the Doctor changed the song from waltz to swing.
I laughed, and joined the Doctor in his joyful dancing. He was right, they needed more days like this. Far too often, they left a planet when someone had died since they hadn't been able to save everyone.